WoRd CoNfUsIon !

1. Stair? There? WoRdCoNfUsIon! Their? Stare? They’re? Bear? Bare?

2. Homonyms! • Many words in English sound the same but have different meanings or spellings. • Other words are spelled the same but have different pronunciations and meanings. • And there are words that have the same pronunciations and spellings, but mean different things. ? WHat?! ?

3. Homonyms: Definitions Don’t worry! We won’t be focusing on these definitions, but here they are… There are two types of homonyms: Homophones: SOUND the same, different SPELLING/MEANING Homographs: SPELLED the same, different SOUND/MEANING

4. Homophones: It’s easy to confuse words that sound the same. Take a look at these sentences featuring homophones: • “You’re” going to eat “your” socks? • I “ate” lunch at “eight” o’clock. • I heard the “tale” about the cat’s “tail.” • I broke the “board” because I was “bored.” • “Whose” cat is crying? “Who’s” going to feed it?

5. Homographs: Homographs are confusing because they are spelled the same. Sometimes they sound the same; sometimes the accent or intonation is different. Look at these examples (sound them out in your head): • I used the animal “hide”(noun) to “hide”(verb) from the sheriff. • We haven’t set a “date” for our scuba-diving “date.” • He “read” the book I had asked him to “read.” • She lost the farmer’s “pick”(noun) and had to “pick”(verb) another from the shed.

6. No wonder people make mistakes! Here are some real-life examples of word confusion. Can you find the mistakes?

8. Here is a list of some of the most popular words that cause confusion (homonyms and near homonyms): • were/ where/ wear • who’s/ whose • then/ than • are/ our • it’s/ its • lead/ led • loose/ lose • except/ accept • forth/ fourth • hole/ whole • desert/ dessert • hear/ here • there/ their/ they’re • your/ you’re • two/ too/ to • right/ write • buy/ by/ bye • wait/ weight • bare/ bear • break/ brake • scene/ seen • board/ bored • affect/ effect • close/ clothes …and there are many, many more!

9. Find Nessie! the wrong word!

10. Let’s work together as a class to find the “wrong words” in the sentences below. Look up the words you are unsure of in the dictionary. Were is you’re family going on vacation? Can we bring are cat too the beach? Now the hole car smells like cat! I couldn’t weight to eat my desert! Where some light close so your not two hot! Bye now, the too bares are far from hear. You should have scene me brake that bored in two! As soon as the door opened, the forth cat flew write out of the car.

11. What words did you have the most trouble with? Throughout the rest of the year we will be adding confusing words and word pairs to our Grammar Journal. Take a few minutes to fill in some confusing “Watch Out For” words in your journal now (Don’t forget to add helpful hints! Example: “bear”(animal) and “bare” (skin, feet). Each week we will review another list of confusing words and continue building our personal “Watch Out For” lists.

12. Working in teams, create seven sentences featuring homonyms. Look up the words you are unsure of in the dictionary. If possible, make a story or stick to one theme! Then we will read your sentences to the class. Here are some more homonyms examples. There are many more---you can use any that you know! • acts/ ax • I’ll/ isle/ aisle • bald/ balled • hair/ hare • days/ daze • die/ dye • flea/ flee • pair/ pear • great/ great • hoarse/ horse • groan/ grown • knight/ night • hall/ haul • blew/ blue • pale/ pail • hey/ hay • meet/ meat • hi/ high • guessed/ guest • nose/ knows • maid/ made • heal/ he’ll • one/ won • flower/ flour • paws/ pause • wrap/ rap

13. Take a few minutes to update your “Watch Out For” entry, then… It’s BINGO time!

14. I will write some homonyms on the board. You will choose what words to write into your bingo squares from the list on the board. Choose words that you struggle with the most. (We’ll help each other!) 3. I will read a sentence that includes a homonym. Mark your bingo card if you have that homonym—but be careful! Listen carefully to the sentence context to find the word’s meaning. Ready? Let’s play Bingo!

15. Keep searching for your “monsters”—don’t let homonyms keep you confused!

16. Works Cited Grammar Points: http://www.cooper.com/alan/homonym_list.html http://www.bifroest.demon.co.uk/misc/homophones-list.html http://www.eslcafe.com/ http://wsuonline.weber.edu/wrh/words.htm http://www.grammarbook.com/homonyms/confusing-words-letter-a.asp Images: http://teachersites.schoolworld.com/webpages/kquinn/writing.cfm?subpage=1611078 http://mcnl70.blogspot.com/2012/02/monster-of-loch-ness-part-ii.html http://yepyep.gibbs12.com/big-brother-fail.html http://www.jinxiboo.com/storage/Grammar9.jpg?__SQUARESPACE_CACHEVERSION=1239986545115 http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qBMGYl6LiTo/TksfgmJbVlI/AAAAAAAAENQ/B5nBaXuHBTs/s300/Nessie-Sign-loch-ness-monster-2030916-323-403.jpg http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/loch_ness_monster_clipart.jpg

17. Works Cited (cont.) Images: http://www.dragoart.com/tuts/pics/8/14843/how-to-draw-the-loch-ness-monster,-draw-nessie.gif http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_YGVLM2i9n6o/Sf5YN5N2xOI/AAAAAAAACbY/MyqK1SaA8Yg/s400/nessie01.jpg http://openclipart.org/people/StudioFibonacci/StudioFibonacci_Cartoon_Plesiosaur.svg http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DuZvchSHGcI/UKaUX5IQo1I/AAAAAAAAAFs/n39n3g69L0M/s1600/Sin-t%C3%ADtulo-1.gif http://mvsm.omnomzom.com/comics/2012-09-03.jpg